On Friday, February 13th, President Trump delivered a speech at the military base Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He informed the U.S. troops that reaching an agreement with Iran in the nuclear negotiations has been challenging. Trump indicated that instilling fear in Iran may be necessary to peacefully resolve the nuclear issue. Earlier that day at the White House, the President also explained his decision to deploy a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East.
Currently, the Trump administration is striving to reach an agreement with Iran through negotiations to prompt Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons program. In his address to the U.S. military, Trump emphasized the role of deterrence.
“I don’t like to use the word ‘fear,’ but sometimes you have to make the other side feel fear. This is the only way to truly solve problems,” the President said. “Our current situation is that we have deployed a very massive aircraft carrier strike group to the vicinity of Iran. I want to see if we can reach an agreement. They have been difficult to negotiate with.”
The President emphasized that he had hoped to reach an agreement in the negotiations last year but failed to do so, leading to the U.S. military operation named “Midnight Hammer” against Iran in June of last year.
Trump also addressed the troops present, stating, “With your help, America achieves victory once again, America wins respect once again, and perhaps most importantly, we make enemies around the world fearful. They fear us.”
“We have ended the politically correct disaster in the military… Now we have a true military, as you can see from our military operations in Iran and Venezuela… We have the most powerful military in the world,” the President said.
He mentioned the U.S. military’s deep incursions into Iranian airspace last year, bombing Iranian nuclear facilities, and the operation to capture Maduro in Venezuela earlier this year.
The President met with some special forces soldiers at Fort Bragg, who were involved in the military operation to capture Venezuelan President Maduro on January 3rd. Fort Bragg is home to approximately 50,000 active-duty troops.
Before heading to Fort Bragg military base, Trump was asked by the media outside the White House about his decision to deploy a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East. He replied, “In case we do not reach an agreement (with Iran), we will need it… If we reach an agreement, we can shorten the deployment period—it will leave soon.”
“If an agreement is not reached, it will be a bad day for Iran—very bad,” he said.
Multiple U.S. media outlets reported that Trump had dispatched the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the Middle East region. This implies that two aircraft carriers and their strike groups will soon be concentrated near Iran. The other carrier already in the region is the USS Abraham Lincoln.